14 September 2010

Making fabric

Frottage (rubbing!) with a shiva/markal oilstick. Lots of interesting textures can be found round the house. I have only this silver paintstick, and although the finished fabric is very useful in the fabric collages I've made recently, using the oilstick is very messy - getting the crusty bits off, for a start - you find tiny bits of everywhere that have come off in the rubbing; it gets all over your hands and smears off onto the fabric when you handle it, and it's not that easy to get it off your hands.

On the plus side, I do like the uniqueness and "randomness" of the results, and you get a variety of marks with one simple tool and technique.

I leave it sit for a day, then heat set with the iron. But so far I haven't used it for anything that needs washing.

3 comments:

deanna7trees said...

i use 'simple green' all purpose cleanser to remove stains, bits, etc. from my hands and anything else when using the paintstiks. it's safe, non-toxic and you can buy it at the supermarket.

Sandra Wyman said...

Would Reduran (sold by dye suppliers) work: the Print Workshop at the art college uses it for getting inks off and it's wonderful with oil-based inks. Art Van Go, Kemtex and Colourcraft sell it. Not cheap but lasts a long time. Fabrics look worth it! I gather you can do the same with oil pastels which cure in the same way and do come off your hands if you wash straight away.

Cate Rose said...

Love the Paintstix, too...and yeah, they are a mess. But worth it!